Sounders play first competitive international match

The Sounders will appear in their first CONCACAF Champions League match Wednesday when they face the Isidro Metapán side from El Salvador.

The game will take place at 7 p.m. and will not be aired on television. It is the preliminary round and will be a home and away series. The team with the better goal differential will advance to the group stages.

The CONCACAF Champions League is played every year and features either one or two teams from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala.

Following the preliminary round, there will be the group stage, quarterfinals, semifinals and the finals. The winner of the tournament will play in the FIFA Club World Championship in December of 2011. The only American side to ever qualify for the event was the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2001, but the tournament was canceled.

However, for the Sounders to get to where the Galaxy was and potentially make history, Seattle must first get by Isidro Metapán.

Isidro Metapán, which has won four of the past seven first division championships in El Salvador, have appeared in the last two Champions Leagues. They lost out in the preliminary round to C.D. Marathón from Honduras in 2008 and were handled easily in the group stage in 2009.

Leading Isidro Metapán is manager Edwin Portillo. He has been in charge of the club since 2006 and has won all four titles.

The most interesting player to keep an eye on will be 19-year old Andrés Flores, who already has two international caps with El Salvador. Before coming to Isidro Metapán, he played for Argentina power River Plate’s youth club.

Starting at keeper will be the former El Salvador international team keeper, Alvaro Misael Alfaro. The 39-year old retired from international play in 2006, but has continued to play on the club level.

The last competitive game for Isidro Metapán was back on May 23 when they beat C.D. Águila 3-1 in the finals of the Clausura league.